"Water resistant" Xperia tablet withdrawn from sale

Manufacturing default leaves tablet with leaks after 100,000 units moved

Sony has been forced to withdraw its Xperia Tablet from sale after a manufacturing fault left the supposedly water resistant unit vulnerable to leaks.

A problem at the tablet's Chinese manufacturer has been isolated as the cause of the defect. Sony have yet to set a timetable for fixing the problem and currently has no date for sales to recommence.

Over 100,000 units of the Android device have been shipped globally. Sony has promised to recall and fix these but does not expect the cost of the operation to have an adverse effect on profits.

The machine, first launched in the US on September 7 this year, was part of the Xperia family of devices which includes several model of mobile phone and will benefit from the recent launch of Sony's PlayStation Mobile service, which allows the download of a suite of low-priced games and apps.

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@Mihai. One of the barriers to eBook readers to me is I read in the bath, so I would love a water resistant tablet. Admittedly I'm looking at the Kindle Fire, and won't go above £200, not £379 for the Xperia tablet S, but the idea is there. Seen plenty of people red a book or paper on a lilo on holiday too.

@Nicholas, I'm tempted by the Nexus, but whilst most Kindle content would work, looking on the Kindle store, the Amazon sold graphic novels only seem to work on proper Kindle devices, unless I misread that. That's a pretty major selling point for me. For what I want to use it for, the lower price and no need for anti virus outweigh the many benefits the Nexus has. Although if it was waterproof I would change my mind in a second :D